Harman turns last-minute attention to women

Zachary Coile, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, May 31, 1998

1998-05-31 04:00:00 PDT CALIFORNIA -- SAN JOSE - Running out of time and trailing in the polls in her bid for governor, Rep. Jane Harman narrowed her focus to the one constituency she needs for an upset victory in Tuesday's primary: women.

The third-term congresswoman made the message very clear to a small crowd of supporters at a campaign stop Saturday at a San Jose youth center, surrounding herself with a half-dozen female political leaders who have endorsed her.

"While I think she appeals to men and women, the real swing is going to come from women voters of both parties," said San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer, a strong Harman backer.

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Harman's visit was part of a whirlwind state tour, taking her from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara to San Jose to Sacramento in a last-minute effort to win support as voters prepare to go to the polls.

Her Democratic rivals, Lt. Gov. Gray Davis and financier Al Checchi, also were frantically hunting for votes and media attention. Davis was stumping in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Calabasas. Checchi took his message to San Bernardino, Santa Ana and Watts.

Harman, Checchi in dead heat&lt;

Polls have shown Checchi and Harman in a dead heat, struggling to catch up to the front-running Davis. An Examiner poll Friday showed Davis leading with 30 percent support, and his competitors tied at 12 percent each.

Harman, however, contends that her campaign's internal polls show she is within striking distance of Davis, and can beat him if she can shore up her support among moderate Republicans and women.

Assemblyman Mike Honda, D-San Jose, the lone male to join Harman behind the podium, noted that he seemed out of place.

"It looks like we have women power up here," Honda said.

"Perhaps that's what the state of California needs."

Harman toured the youth center and praised its focus on giving children in the mostly Latino neighborhood something to do after school while their parents worked.

"This is the kind of community effort that should exist all over California," Harman said.

Throughout the event, she stressed themes that her campaign believes resonate well with women: guns, health care and education.

She talked up her support of a ban on Saturday night specials and assault weapons, as well as legislation to require child locks on all guns. She pledged to provide health insurance to children whose parents don't have coverage through their jobs.

Harman also laid out a long list of education reforms, including competency tests for teachers, more money for up-to-date textbooks and after-school programs, and requiring that all state teachers are credentialed.

She said she would make sure minority students have access to the UC system by backing a Board of Regents proposal to admit the top 4 percent of students from every school.

Needs male votes, too&lt;

Malcolm, of Emily's List, said Harman still has a good chance of winning if she can rally undecided women to her side.

"This race is certainly not over," Malcolm said. "I think we will see a lot of women come out and make a difference for her."

To overcome Davis' lead, she also is going to have to win over some male voters, such as Xavier Campos, director of the youth center. Undecided in the governor's race, Campos said all he knows at this point is that he is not supporting the likely Republican nominee, Attorney General Dan Lungren.

"For me, none of the (Democratic) candidates is the whole package," Campos said.

His main concern, he said, is who can beat Lungren. "I'm looking at who's going to be electable," Campos said,

"but I don't know who that is."

Davis on Saturday campaigned more like he was taking a victory lap than fighting it out for the nomination, confidently assuring friendly audiences of African Americans and Latinos in Los Angeles and Long Beach that Lungren "has never been up against anybody like Gray Davis."

Davis also has stepped up the attacks on Gov. Wilson, telling the LULAC group that "the era of finger-pointing at the border is over" if Davis is elected. He later told reporters he may link Lungren to the outgoing governor in voters' minds, blaming Lungren for Wilson's attacks on immigration and affirmative action.

Lungren, who in recent days has vowed to take Davis to task for his "liberal" beliefs, took a shot at Davis - over the North American Free Trade Agreement, the major trade bill with Mexico - before a Latino business group on Saturday.

"Gray Davis took the principled position of being neutral on NAFTA," said the Republican state attorney general.

Checchi continued to emphasize education reform, beginning Saturday at a Boys and Girls club in San Bernardino and then boarding his bright yellow school bus to go to Santa Ana and Watts.

Lungren spent most of Saturday in the Los Angeles area, courting Latino business leaders who sharply questioned his support of the anti-affirmative action initiative, Proposition 209.

Lungren said the state doesn't need quotas but must reach out to Latino-owned businesses and remove obstacles that prevent them from competing equally with other firms for government contracts.